When executing any form of art, the personality and the experiences of the artist are intrinsically present. Whether it is in the inspiration or in the actual tangible representation of the work itself, the artist’s essence is there. It can be painting, sculpture, music, literature, photography… Any artistic discipline you can imagine holds within it the nature of its creator, expressing it in different forms. In fact, that’s the uniqueness of art: it’s so intimate and personal, but at the same time, it’s public and exposed.
When I ask Paul Bik how his art represents his personality, the response is clear: “I see my work as a direct reflection of who I am as a person, of how my personality is”. The artist born in Warsaw but based in Milan is inspired by the combination of opposites, and that inspiration comes from within: “My personality, with its duality and constant balancing between being an introvert and the need for expression, is present at every stage of my creative process”.
That continuous balancing between contrasts is exactly what Paul Bik’s art explores. He finds harmony in opposites, and his art is a result of the combination between geometry and distortion, mathematical precision and intuitive finishing touches, traditional craftsmanship and new techniques. Working mostly with wood, cardboard, resin, plaster, and paint, one can’t seem to locate exactly what his art consists of. The artist himself can’t define it: “It would be difficult for me to classify my works as either sculpture or painting”, he expresses, “both the process of building a spatial form and the process of painting are equally essential to me, and I cannot imagine one without the other”.
Paul started to develop his artistic side at a very young age. Captivated by his mother’s passion, who took him to art galleries often, he also discovered his passion for drawing. However, he did not actually pursue his career as an artist until decades later: “I did not decide to go to an art college, I did not think that art would become my profession”. Paul went through many different fields before even coming close to painting and sculpture. Starting off as a psychology graduate, he later moved into the fashion industry. After that, he became a make-up artist, a streetwear jewelry designer, and an interior designer.
Nonetheless, everything changed once he moved to Milan. As he describes it, “Creativity has always been an important part of both my character and previous professions, but I feel that only after moving to Milan did I start to develop my real artistic path from scratch”. In a way, Milan felt like a clean slate, where he could start from zero and dedicate his life to his true passion: art. It wasn’t until he began to create artworks to decorate his empty Milan apartment that he contemplated turning it into his job: “My friends started to be interested in buying my works, then they persuaded me to exhibit them in the online galleries”. Paul now sells his renowned works through online and traditional galleries, as well as Instagram.
Art has always been present in Paul’s life, one way or another. However, it has now become an integral part of his reality: “It’s something that simulates the way I think and feel, I look for it and at it for my personal pleasure but also to search for inspiration for my projects that I share with others”. Inspiration can come from everything and anything. Nevertheless, Paul is inspired by objects or crafts created with the use of human work or traditional tools: “While nature provides me with peace and tranquility, it is in the art gallery, not in nature, where I seek ideas, inspiration, and energy for further work”.
His art, however, is very organic. He is bored by predictability and perfection. Even though he starts off his creative process with precise projects based on mathematical rules and geometric forms, without the touch of distortion and experimenting with new techniques, his work would be soulless: “I’m an aesthete, so the visual aspect of my work is important to me, but only if its harmony is achieved in the process of deharmonizing and clash of adverse forces”.
The Polish artist also mentions the undeniable impact of the two cities he has spent most time in: “Both Warsaw and Milan were particularly affected by the war and largely rebuilt in the modernist spirit”. Surrounded by this architecture his entire life, modernism’s elimination of decorativeness and its search for the perfect balance between lines and weight are expressed in his art. In fact, this modernist duality has influenced another of his challenges that inspires his inventiveness: looking for the balance between simplicity and decorativeness.
“Oppositions make me want to experiment more in order to find the balance, this is when I feel the most challenged when working and push my own, also personal, limits”, Paul manifests. It is the most personal form of art, a kind of creativity that explores both sides of his own personality. A reflection of the artist’s true self turned into a tangible piece. The clash between being an introvert and an extrovert is the essence of his character and his work: “Introvert and extrovert qualities intervene throughout my everyday behaviors and creative process, I feel aligned only when I feel that both sides of my personality are in tune”.
Paul Bik will be presenting his works from his series “Extruded Canvas” in Madrid, from September 14th to the 30th, at Galería Materna y Herencia. In this significant solo show, he will be displaying the works of art resulting from a technique that he is still exploring and that slightly differentiates from his recent exhibitions. In “Extruded Canvas”, the painting aspect seems to resonate more than in previous works, and, in this occasion, his characteristic monochromatic palette is interrupted by a subtle touch of color. Another extroverted disruption that lies in his introverted predictable black and white.
